BEAUFORT — Gary Gillikin left the Carteret County Courthouse Tuesday feeling justice had been served in the murder of his aunt nearly two years ago.

“I’m relieved. Rhonda is going to prison for the rest of her life, and it’s the justice she deserves,” he said in a statement to media after the convictions of Rhonda Hagan and her mother, Phyllis Williams, in connection with the September 2012 death of 90-year-old Goldie Hall.

Hagan, 32, of Newport, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, second-degree arson, concealing a death and larceny from the person.

She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Williams was not present at the time of the murder but did assist her daughter in covering up the crime before later cooperating with the investigation. She pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, concealing the death of a person and accessory after the fact to second degree arson.

Williams received three consecutive sentences totaling a minimum of 18 months to a maximum of 51 months in prison; however, the sentence was suspended and she is to be on supervised probation for five years.

She will be under electronic monitoring and must follow a number of other restrictions set by Judge Ben Alford during her probationary period. She was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and court costs, as well as approximately $21,000 in restitution for the cost of the investigation led by the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office.

According to facts presented by District Attorney Scott Thomas in court, Hall was killed in a dispute with Hagan over money owed.

Hagan was on probation for a past conviction related to forgery and uttering and worthless checks and was ordered to pay restitution of $30,000. She faced prison time for failing to do so, and Hall had loaned Williams money so that Hagan could pay the full amount of the restitution as well as court costs and fines.

Hagan and Williams made only sporadic payments to Hall, and Hall had expressed a desire to have the loan repaid.

While Hagan continued to say she would repay the money, she did not and would go on to give Hall a worthless check on a closed account.

When Hall threatened to report Hagan’s actions to law enforcement, the situation escalated.

On Sept. 20, 2012, Hagan went to Hall’s house in the Gales Creek community along N.C. 24 to try to retrieve the bad check. She got into a verbal and physical altercation with Hall, and the physical attack led to Hall’s death from blunt-force trauma to the head.

Hagan wrapped Hall’s body in a blanket and put her in her sport utility vehicle. She then set fire to Hall’s house using a stove burner in an effort to conceal evidence, Thomas said.

A mail carrier unknowingly interrupted Hagan’s efforts, and Hagan then called 911 to report the fire.

Hagan contacted her mother and told her what she had done, but Williams did not contact law enforcement to report Hall’s death and later provided misleading statements to investigators.

Hall’s body was located seven days later in a field north of the Newport Flea Mall, where Hagan had taken her.

After the investigation narrowed to Hagan, she provided misleading and false statement to investigators.

Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck said the misleading information resulted in an extensive use of manpower and resources from the sheriff’s office and partner agencies to search for Hall.

Had Williams contacted authorities after her daughter told her what she had done, she could have helped to resolve the case sooner.

“This was a very manpower and labor intensive investigation,” he said.

Buck said the convictions bring the case to a close after a long, extensive investigation involving numerous agencies.

“I’m glad to see justice served, particularly for the family,” he said.

Gillikin and Rose Crawford each spoke directly to Hagan during her court appearance.

Crawford said Hagan had deprived Hall’s family of her presence and love, and she took the life of a person who was only trying to help her.

“You have put bitterness in my heart and mind that may never ease, and that I will have to live with,” she said.

Gillikin described his aunt as a kind and loving person as evidenced by her willingness to loan the money to help Hagan.

“I hope Rhonda’s punishment will stop something like this from ever happening again so that kind people will keep doing kind things for others,” he said in his impact statement in court.

Thomas said Hagan took advantage of the generosity of her aunt and then made a series of wrong choices.

“There were so many other ways Ms. Hagan could have chosen to handle this situation, but she chose to kill her great aunt, set her home on fire, and dump her body in the woods,” the D.A. said. “Life in prison without parole without the possibility of parole means Ms. Hagan will live the rest of her life behind bars.”

Thomas commended the sheriff’s office and lead investigator Lt. Detective Mike Panzarella for their work as well as the district’s attorney’s office and agencies including the State Bureau of Investigation and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Family members also thanked the investigators and agencies involved in bringing the case to a close.

With the guilty pleas, the case will not go to trial.

Attorney Dick McNeil of Jacksonville, who represented Hagan, said his client felt the plea was in her, her mother’s and her family’s best interest.

“She wanted to get it resolved and I think the outcome was predetermined,” he said.

McNeil said the prosecution could have made it a capital case.

Thomas said that Williams had agreed to cooperate with the prosecution of Hagan’s case and was prepared to testify had the case gone to trial.

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BEAUFORT – A Carteret County woman has been convicted for the murder of her 90-year-old great aunt.

Rhonda Hagan of Newport pleaded guilty Tuesday in Carteret County Superior Court to the first-degree murder of Goldie Hall.

She was sentenced to serve life in prison without parole.

Her mother, Phyllis Williams, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and two other related felonies for failing to report the death and covering for her daughter.

She received a 5 year suspended sentence and will be on probation with electronic monitoring. She is also to pay 20,000 in restitution to Carteret County Sheriffs Office.

With the plea, Hagan will not go to trial. District Attorney Scott Thomas had indicated at their court appearances in February that a trial for Hagan was expected to be held this fall.